peter wrote:Yes Wos, after posting I thought it a bit overblown - but it pretty much does sum up for me the hopes I have for us. On a bad day I could probably list my fears in an equally unrestrained display
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... I'd like to hear quick critique of my post if you have time, to give me something to think on. This is a pretty quiet room and I'm sure the Mods would wear it. Just a few pointers where it might be adrift would help and I'd be grateful.
As you have invited comment, I hope sincerely and genuinely not to hurt your feelings or offend you. You've listed the things you believe and caveated with your assessment that science may not enable these ends. So it is faith in god that drives your belief in immortality, onniscience, time not being linear, seeing the face of God reflected in our image (switched it around on purpose) lol
I used to believe in a God, I believed in a Christ, now I do not
I don't confidently call myself atheist because I could be wrong on all fronts. When I looked at the Bible .. it eventually occurred to me (not a quick study) that what I was reading were verbal "histories" (that's generous) passed down from generation to generation, till the first scribes. Not all were scribes, just a chosen few, these were schooled in writing at a time the written word was highly regarded. And at a time when the worship of gods was popular and common to numerous, in fact almost all ancient peoples.
When reading there is almost a promotional tone - the worshippers of one God, spoke of his power, his might, and his glory and those that scribed the Bible did the same.
Then I compared the old and new testaments and you would know their tones are very different. Even there seemed to be different gods in the Old Testament and a different one again in the new. The OT God smite his enemies with the sword and put to death, men, women and children for not being born his chosen people, such thing they'd not have had any control over
then in the NT the god there taught to love
your enemies, do good to them that spitefully use you, and forgive those who offend you 79 x 7 times no less.
As I read I became more and more perplexed ... I studied archaeological evidences and secular history of that period also. I was surprised that there was little to no evidence of a resurrected Christ / literal son of god. In fact I found that the New Testament itself is actually the primary source (of evidence) for this characters existence ... which to me is like arguing a super hero comic book is evidence of the existence of Superman
These discoveries were no easy burden to bear. I use the word burden because it was all a terrible "revelation" .. I became quite depressed as what I had built my life on and my families lives on came tumbling down.
I continued reading and learning almost obsessively. I think I desperately wanted to learn something that supported my now flailing belief. But alas I did not - and I went through a crisis of faith. The more I learned the lighter I began to feel oddly enough. The guilt culture of religious faith and the multitudinous rules and expectations no longer held sway over me. I started to feel a sense of freedom from these restraints, from a desire even to continue fighting against what I would have previously viewed as blasphemous. Hahahaha.. I love the Jesus of the New Testament, I still want to mirror my life on this beautiful persona, I love the kindness and compassion of his teachings. So Stark are they in comparison to some of the OT principles.
I don't have to make excuses for evolution or the existence of dinosaurs or the scientific age of the earth. I never really bought into the anti- evolution mindset anyway as the evidence is hard to ignore.
So I believe now that
1. god did not create man - but rather god is a construct created by man.
2. that man from the earliest times has looked into the night sky (and day sky) and has seen the clouds as gods footstool and the heavens above them where god resides (why? Because that was the limit of their "science")
3. that man's ego has led him to pursue greater meaning and I importance for his life, surely that extends beyond mortality - of course. Surely I am made for mightier things than birth and death, surely my worth is beyond this "mortal" realm. Surely there are more glorious realms than this? Otherwise what is it all for?
4. I believe living now is what our focus ought to be, now, as children, live and love to our fullest, as teens live these years that only come once, love others now in life, show kindness, lift the diwntridden, do good while you breathe and can. Earn the love of those you know now, through to your senior years. And make this a life you would be proud to leave as legacy of a good life lived.
But why should we do any of point 4.? I know some will ask .. I say why not? These are the things which will bring richness and depth to your life and to those around you. Living well will grow your character and make you a more valued member of society, and a more valuable one. Do it because it's the right thing to do, not to secure a "reward", a place in a "heaven" LOL
AND
5. I believe "morality " is not the sole property of religion. That there are known "universal" principles identified by even many indigenous communities before Christianity, basic morals that were identified to endure a fair and equitable. system of living.
That's what I believe, and I will live my life now because I have now.
After all, millions accept the help of theraputic drugs to enable to cope with 'the real' on a daily basis. Sure - better if they didn't have the need to, but they do and it helps them not avoid reality, but cope with it. would it hurt so much to extend the principle. Also, as philosophy and physics blur the lines of 'reality', of what is and is not, such notions of demanding 'the real' over the 'illusory but experienced as real' start to crumble.
I don't confidently call myself atheist because I could be wrong on all fronts. When I looked at the Bible .. it eventually occurred to me (not a quick study) that what I was reading were verbal "histories" (that's generous) passed down from generation to generation, till the first scribes. Not all were scribes, just a chosen few, these were schooled in writing at a time the written word was highly regarded. And at a time when the worship of gods was popular and common to numerous, in fact almost all ancient peoples. 
Then I compared the old and new testaments and you would know their tones are very different. Even there seemed to be different gods in the Old Testament and a different one again in the new. The OT God smite his enemies with the sword and put to death, men, women and children for not being born his chosen people, such thing they'd not have had any control over 
your enemies, do good to them that spitefully use you, and forgive those who offend you 79 x 7 times no less. 
